Hushed Cries

We all know that change is the only constant thing. But it takes so much strength to embrace change. It takes strength to embrace life when it takes away life from you. It is shocking just how uncertain life can get. One moment, a person is safe and sound. The other moment, he is just gone..into a different world. I have not heard of a pain more devastating than that of a parent who loses his/her child. It crushes me to just listen about it, I don’t think I can imagine the resultant shock that cripples parents for life. Children are parents’ own creation, after all. The moments they spend with their parents are invaluable and priceless. And there is no love that is more unconditional than a parent’s love. A ‘lover’ might lay down a hundred conditions, and may still not forgive you for your flaws. But parents..I think it takes courage to decide to become a parent. It’s not just about family planning. It’s about bringing a new life into this world. It’s about honouring the commitment made to each other, a second time. Alas! For some parents, the time to be spent with their child is measurable, countable.

They send us to the best places, institutions and universities to study, but one incident is enough to take a life. That’s uncertainty personified. Only the person who defines uncertainty for his/her parents is no longer with them. How will they ever be able to cope up with the loss of their own creation! What on earth could be more devastating for them? We are young, and we are very much capable of making mistakes. We take risks, without telling our parents. Because most of the time, risky situations do not seem as risky to us. But it paints a horrifying picture in the end, and no amount of remorse and painstaking effort can bring back the situation to where it was. As if our own ‘childish’ mistakes are not enough, parents sometimes have to bear the brunt of others’ crimes. I say crimes because no parent would be in a reasonable state of mind when all they feel is excruciating pain, especially when things were in control of someone/something sinister. Yet others are God’s favourite children. God sends his angel-like children on the earth to give immense happiness to the family, and beckons them soon after. In any case, it’s tragic. He or she is gone, never to come back. It’s over. It had to happen, and it happened. Murphy’s law. There will never be “what if’s” again. But what begins is a period of a lifelong mourning. I write with a heavy heart tonight..and I am recounting instances during the past few years and months when I heard about parents losing their children. Each time, it felt like a blow, a shock, and something that I could not accept. It is painful enough to hear..I don’t know what material a parent has to be made up of to see such a day, and to withstand the perpetuated after-effects of such a tragedy.

Tonight, I pray for the resting souls of those children. I pray much more for the parents who have to muster courage to go through each day, holding together their shattered and irreparably broken soul. I pray for this world, and for the next-generation parents-to-be, so that we teach our children from our experiences. Rest in peace, dearest babies..you’re all immortal for your parents. Now that you’re not making any noise, there’s a lot of silence in the air..but the souls of your parents are devoid of peace..forever.